West Seattle, Washington
20 Saturday
No snow, but there’s a strong breeze buffeting trees around, at least where we are — and that, according to Seattle City Light, 
is the number one cause of power outages: trees vs. power lines. As first reported here last month, City Light crews are coming to West Seattle soon for what the utility says is the first extensive round of tree-trimming here in almost a decade – and if you have a tree that’s in the way, NOT cutting is NOT an option — so SCL really wants to make sure everyone understands what’s going on here, before the trucks show up, and why the cuts tend to be big and dramatic, not just a snip here and a snip there. Best place to find out exactly what will happen and when – and to see if your specific neighborhood is included in what City Light’s announcement two weeks ago described as “Alki and North Admiral west of California Avenue in the north end of West Seattle and Genesee, Gatewood and Fairmount Park neighborhoods in the south end of West Seattle” – is to go to tonight’s meeting, 6:30 pm, Hiawatha Community Center.
School-tour season continues today – the WSB Events page lists many West Seattle schools’ tours, continuing on into February. One of the schools with tours today is Gatewood Elementary — which also just happens to be looking to celebrate its past as well as hosting potential participants in its future — per this announcement:
Gatewood Elementary turns 100!
Are you a Gatewood graduate? If so, we would love to hear from you. We will be celebrating Gatewood’s birthday on May 31st, 2008, and would love to have you join in the party. Please contact celebration coordinator Celia Townsend with your name, contact information and any stories or photos you would like to share. Thank you!
E-Mail: cktownsend@comcast.net
Phone: 206.932.1939
We first told you last month about Seattle City Light‘s plan to do extensive tree-trimming around West Seattle power lines this year, including the utility’s promise it would set a public meeting. The date for that meeting, and details on what neighborhoods SCL will focus on, just arrived in the form of this news release:Read More
From Cendi:
I live on Gatewood Hill at California & Holden. Twice in the past two weeks, someone has come into my yard and put [well-known local business] stickers on my windows. It surprises me, because we are in such a highly visible area and the stickers were put on the two most visible sides of my house. Could this be working up to a break-in?
Don’t know if it’s a precursor to that, but it’s certainly vandalism. Police non-emergency number: 625-5011 (always on the Crime Watch page).
The snow shower here in Upper Fauntleroy is pretty serious … if this goes on much longer, it just might stick. We’ll post any pix we get (or just leave a comment with the report from your part of town … already got e-mail from Westwood noting snow there too). 2:37 PM UPDATE: Looking south down California, you can see the dusting on cars & roofs:
And this photo just in (thank you & Merry Christmas!) from KA at California/Webster on Gatewood Hill:
3:05 PM NOTE: It’s almost stopped here. Just in time for Christmas dinner! 3:45 PM UPDATE: National Weather Service forecast is updated. “Light coating of snow possible.” 4:55 PM ADDENDUM: Thanks to SO near The Junction for this festive, snow-coated photo:
Two pix again tonight – this first one hit the WSB inbox just as we were getting ready to publish this item:
First one is from Greg, and it’s at 4117 38th SW, east of The Junction; second one is on Gatewood Hill, on 37th SW north of Kenyon. Both are on our updated-nightly clickable West Seattle Christmas lights map, viewable any time on the WSB Holidays page, but getting to be so lively, we also wanted to show it off here:
Yes, we know the West Water condo-conversion marketers are likely laughing all the way to the bank, while observers grumble and gripe and gnash teeth over the unprecedented overkill of their over-the-top campaign. Nonetheless … it’s the gaudiest thing to hit this side of West Seattle in a long time, so we’re all over it. Earlier today, we discussed the spotlights that are the latest bling in this blitz. After dark, we couldn’t resist heading down the hill with our video camera:
In today’s earlier post, and its comments, readers shared info about how to complain about aspects of this condo campaign that appear to break city rules, such as the sandwich-board signs along roads and highways. One more to add — this one from Jill:
Please add the Seattle Dept of Planning and Development number 206-615-0808, so that citizens can complain. Or file one online at
seattle.gov/dpd/enforcement/code_compliance/filing_a_complaint
The marketers have laughed off the city’s attempts to assess 500-dollar/day fines. Apparently that’s less than the cost of renting throw pillows. Maybe a lawsuit over light pollution, the windsail signs, or a traffic accident in front of Ladro will be needed to do the trick.
A few new comments and e-mails have come in about the latest marketing tactic deployed by the heavily marketed West Water condo complex, ex-Watermark(e) Apartments, south of Morgan Junction — a light show (equipment at right of above photo, taken late yesterday). The latest e-mail, from WSB reader Kerri, begs the question, how much marketing is TOO much marketing?
Is anyone other than me tired of West Water condominiums’ overzealous and trashy marketing campaign? I thought I would share the contact information for the person who takes credit for the sandwich boards every 200 feet going both directions on the viaduct, the posters staked every 15-20 feet up and down Fauntleroy and California, the dozen giant flags, used-car lot style balloons and now giant spotlight laser show that pollute the front of the building, etc….
Her name is Judy Gamel, office phone: (206) 216-7200.
I went in to complain tonight and she seemed pretty pleased with how successful their trashy marketing campaign has been so far. It sounds like they plan to keep it up full force until the building sells out.
Just out of the inbox, from Teresa P:
Just wanted to everyone know, the West Seattle coyotes are back!
I live at the end of 44th Ave SW @ Portland and had two young adults on my property Saturday morning. They awoke me by their “talking” to each other which at times can sound very disturbing, almost scary at times. However, it is simply the way they communicate with each other. But in the middle of the night it can sound horrendous!!
Coyotes will usually return to their mating den every winter, however they did not come back last winter. I can’t say I was sad because by that spring, not only did we have two adults, we had three pups playing at the lower portion of my property. As amazing as they are to watch, it is important to remember they are wild and are not to be treated lightly. I have not had any issue with them getting into garbage or coming up to the house, however, my cat is no longer allowed any outside time after sunset or early in the morning. During the day, only when supervised.
There is sometimes a misconception that coyotes will not approach domestic animals or even humans but that is simply not true. If they are hungry and see something they think they can catch or take from your yard, they will.
So be safe!
Here’s a map of the intersection Teresa mentions. Meantime — we have written about West Seattle coyote sightings like these before, and our caveat is, don’t panic – we need to co-exist with these guys (as this excellent Humane Society page notes) – but do be forewarned, as Teresa writes, you need to keep your pets indoors. A good idea in any case, given there are even more serious threats (cars, for example).
First: Word comes from Divina that the shop @ California/Genesee will feature student artists, K-12, from around West Seattle, during tomorrow night’s monthly West Seattle Art Walk in The Junction (more participants are listed on the Art Walk blog). A separate e-mail, from Amy, alerts us to the fact that this year’s Poetry on Buses poets include two Gatewood Elementary students — 6-year-old Sharon Zumwalt (read her poem here) and 6-year-old Giovanni Paredes (read his poem here); this year’s winning poets are being celebrated at a launch party tonight.
For everyone who just couldn’t wait to find out more about this suddenly much-advertised condo conversion south of Morgan Junction … the website is now up. (As are [illegal] sandwich-board signs all along southbound 99 going at least as far back as the Battery Street Tunnel.) If you’ve got some time to kill, take a look at the site and (a) find the errors and (b) tell us if you recognize the coffee shop on the “contact” page.
In the tradition of Graham Street Apartments=Strata, etc., yet another California Avenue condo conversion has its fancy new name. The lettering above for West Water has just appeared on all the exterior fancying-up that workers have been doing at the former Watermarke Apartments (6960-6970 California, chronicled here in August and in September) for the past several weeks. West Water’s future website promises these will, of course, be “luxury condominiums.” (Found the complex’s pre-conversion sales price, $13 million, on this site, along with sales data on several other WS buildings we are now researching. EARLY MONDAY ADDENDUM: That brokerage site also has a blog, with what appears to be the behind-the-scenes story of this building’s sale.) Before/after pix (not the same exact angle but close enough) — one month ago, then today:
35th is blocked off from Myrtle to Webster. Police officers are in the street investigating something; there was a medic call at Fire Station 37 (inside the blocked-off zone) earlier, but no details.
At midday tomorrow, sadly, the Rent-A-Ruminant goats leave the formerly tangled slopes of Gatewood Elementary. Organizer Steve from the Gatewood playground project tells us they’ve been amazed at the reception — people stopping by for a look at the goats at all hours, as well as during the “Kids for Kids” playground-renovation fundraiser they had last weekend. He says they’ve definitely covered the costs of bringing in the four-hooved land-clearers, so that’s good news; Steve adds, “Bringing them in has made significant strides in knocking down the foliage [as shown in WSB photos above & below, taken this morning] … so we can now go back with humans and continue the cleanup. … (After this) we could use volunteers to help dig out roots and lay out the burlap and wood chips. All time spent counts as hours that we need for matching our grants.” Contacts for the Gatewood PTSA and playground project organizers are here; see WSB goat-arrival video here.
7200 block of California, June:
July:
Now:
We first told the story of the fight over the townhouses, and the now-obscured view of the old house many in the area know as the Gatewood “hunting lodge,” in February.
If you see this before 2 pm Saturday, you still have time to get down to Gatewood Elementary and join in the “Kids for Kids” fun. If you see it later, the goats aren’t scheduled to leave till Tuesday morning, so you may get a chance for an impromptu look. (And check out WSB video of their arrival here.) Quite a crowd when we went by a little while ago — first two photos are onlookers admiring rain-shielded goats; third one is from the other “Kids for Kids” events up on the Gatewood playground:
Thanks to reader K for sending pix of the most eagerly awaited animal act to hit West Seattle since the baby seals. (News about them, coming up in a bit.) We are processing video right now too.
Now that power and cable are back for people in the south Morgan Junction/west Gatewood area that was without power till about 5:30 this morning, we seem to have learned about the culprit. Area resident Vlad Oustimovitch sent the photo above (thank you!), explaining it was “a large Big Leaf Maple tree that came down on the 4000 block of SW Orchard Street at 4:15 pm yesterday. It tore out the power and cable lines and blacked out the whole street, and I suspect other streets as well. Nobody was hurt, but there are skid marks 10 feet away from the downed tree where a car driving on the street was almost crushed. I came down soon after, and the driver was shaking as he looked at what just missed him. Crews were out early in the morning and had the street cleared and power on by 5:35 am. Impressive job, they did it all in the dark. Cable was restored a few hours after that.” 5:25 PM ADDITION: One more case of “When Trees Attack!” from yesterday’s storm. Hotwire Coffee proprietor Lora Vickrey e-mailed this photo of the tree that came down outside the Junction post office. Nobody hurt, Lora reports, but some folks passing by at the time were shaken up!
Happening at elementary schools in West Seattle today:
LAFAYETTE WALK-A-THON: It’s an annual tradition for this elementary school in the Admiral District. Starting at 9:15, and continuing throughout the day (more info here), each grade gets its turn to take 45 minutes to walk laps around the Lafayette playground, raising money for a variety of school projects. Past beneficiaries included the playground itself, which is continuing to undergo renovation work. If you stop by to cheer them on, note there’s a bake sale too.
GATEWOOD GOATS: The storm-delayed arrival of the Rent-a-Ruminant herd is expected to happen around midday today; this too is part of a big playground improvement project. The really big event is 10 am-2 pm tomorrow, and you’re invited.
These and other happenings are also on our Events page (including tons of Halloween and Thanksgiving/Christmas fun); our West Seattle Weekend Lineup will be out a bit later this morning.
If you have driven by the above-pictured greenery along Fauntleroy a couple blocks north of Lincoln Park, you might not know there’s an elementary school behind all that. But the fine folks of Gatewood Elementary have a plan to clear things up: Gatewood parent Steve White wrote to let us all know about the impending arrival — one week from today — of those beloved Rent-A-Ruminant goats (seen along Admiral back in July). Steve says the objective of the goats’ work October 18-21 is “to mow down a hillside of ivy as part of our playground renovation project. … The ivy removal is part of ridding the school grounds of invasive plant species, and restoring the native plants.” The Gatewood playground renovation, Operation Imagination, has been three years in the making and is going well thanks to donations of time and money as well as various grants; it will be spotlighted during a day of fun events while the goats are on site, “Kids for Kids,” 10 am-4 pm Saturday 10/20.
A tongue-in-cheek note accompanied the photo of recently harvested carrots from a Gatewood garden …
The e-mail subject line: AMAZING WEST SEATTLE CARROT. The text follows. Perhaps a flood of comments from insistent carrot lovers will force the gardeners to bask in their deserved spotlight.
We just pulled this pair of intertwined carrots from our garden in Gatewood and thought you should know about them. Feel free to publish this incredible photo on your blog — we have decided to keep it in the public domain and not pursue monetary rewards. In fact we humbly wish to remain anonymous.
(PHOTOS ADDED BELOW @ 7:45 PM) WSB reader Venkat sends along the story of someone whose erratic drive up and down the Gatewood Hill stretch of Cali apparently didn’t go too well:
We were having coffee at Ladro when we saw a car with a flat tire driving along. Didn’t think anything of it, and about 2 minutes later saw sirens going the opposite direction. About 10 minutes later, after finishing up coffee, we saw police cars towards the Thriftway, when we took a look, sure enough it was the flat tire car, with the driver in the back of the police car (i.e., in custody).
When we were headed back home, up California (towards Thistle) we saw a sign had been knocked down. I thought I saw a wheel mark on the lawn of the sidewalk. We talked to some of the neighbors and someone drove their car around 70 mph, up the sidewalk, knocked over a street sign, crashed into a generator, and drove off down to Ladro (where we saw the car).
I think no injuries were sustained (except for the transformer, and someone’s railing and front yard) but it was an odd incident.
7:45 PM UPDATE: Finally found the spot after our second drive-by along the hill. Note in the second photo, the offending vehicle left something telltale behind.
WSB reader/commenter (and blogger) Chas Redmond writes to tell us flyers have just gone around announcing the imminent demise of the 35th SW crosswalk at Kenyon (photo), hot on the heels of the Java Bean crosswalk removal….
Chas elaborates on this better than we could, so we’re quoting verbatim from his e-mail:
SDOT appears to be on a crosswalk-removing rampage – again claiming that “safety is our highest priority” and that un-signalized but marked crosswalks do not meet Federal standards based in part on a 2002 Federal Highway Administration study. So, the latest victim is the marked crosswalk at Kenyon and 35th Avenue SW. Oh, SDOT also says that “it is also important to note that, according to Washington state law, a legal pedestrian crossing exists at every intersection regardless of whether or not a crosswalk is marked. Thus pedestrians will continue to have a legal right to cross at this intersection.”
What they don’t state is that they are removing more and more of the visible signs of pedestrians, giving drivers even more incentive to ignore pedestrians. Irrespective of whether or not un-signalized crosswalks are safer or not, marked crosswalks remind motorists that there other users of the roadway or intersection and removing them is one more notch on the belt of automotive traffic at the expense of pedestrian traffic. Responses can be made by calling SDOT’s comment line at 206-615-1608 or e-mailing “walkandbike@seattle.gov.”
But be it known that the flyer states emphatically “SDOT will be removing the crosswalk at 35th Avenue SW and SW Kenyon Street.”
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